by AF 0616 a3 — June 18, 2010—The highlight of the annual NeoCon World’s Trade Fair, at The Merchandise Mart, Chicago, is the Best of NeoCon competition. This product competition differs from most in that entries are limited to products introduced to the market during NeoCon. Each entry is viewed in person, not judged by a slide or computer image.
The Best of The Best of NeoCon—the top award—went to Wilkhahn for its ON chair. The office ergonomic/task chair is based on Trimension, a mechanism that precisely follows the positions, functions and scope of movements in the knee and hip joints. (See also NeoCon’10: Top Award in Best of NeoCon is Wilkhahn’s ON chair, a new concept to combat back pain.)
Eighty-one gold and silver awards were distributed along with seven Innovation Awards, three Editors’ Choice Awards, and a Best of Competition Award. All were selected from 39 categories ranging from Architectural Products to Workplace Technologies.
A total of 328 entrants were evaluated during the three days preceding NeoCon 2010 by a jury of 45 corporate, government, and institutional facilities management executives, interior designers, and architects, who are responsible for selecting and buying furniture and furnishings for their organizations and clients.
Sponsors of The Best of NeoCon are Contract Magazine, IIDA (International Interior Design Association); IFMA (International Facility Management Association), MMPI (The Merchandise Mart); McMorrow Report.
The following are Gold Award winners in The Best of NeoCon listed by categories:
Best of Competition and Gold in Seating: Ergonomic Desk/Task Wilkhahn, for ON
Architectural Products Skyline Design, for Kids Glass
Carpet Fiber
- Antron INVISTA, for TruBlend Fiber Technology
Carpet: Broadloom Milliken Constantine, for The Palisades Collection
Carpet: Modular
- InterfaceFLOR, for Memphis Collection
Casegoods Halcon, for Proximus
Conference Room Furniture Davis, for SITE Collection
Education Solutions Izzy+, for Dewey 6-Top by Fixtures Furniture
Flooring Resilient Tandus Flooring, for Urban Nature Powerbond Hybrid Resilient
Furniture Systems Groupe Lacasse, for Collective and Innovative Teaming Enhancements
Furniture Systems: Enhancements
- Allsteel, for Stride Benching
Healthcare Furniture Herman Miller Healthcare, for Compass System
Healthcare
- Wieland, for Allay Sleep Sofa
Healthcare Fabrics Pallas Textiles, for Entwined
Healthcare Textiles
- Momentum Textiles, for Silica
Lighting: Decorative Joel Berman Glass Studio, for Heat
Lighting: Task/Desktop Furniture-Integrated
- Teknion, for Conflux LED Lighting
Office Accessories Humanscale, for Humanair Personal Zone Air Purifier
Seating: Benches
- Teknion, for dna Collaborative Lounge Seating & Tables
Seating: Conference Haworth, for Very Task Conference
Seating: Ergonomic Desk/Task
And also Best of Competition
- Wilkhahn, for ON
Seating: Guest Bernhardt Design, for Corvo
Seating: Sofas & Lounge
- Keilhauer, for Cahoots
Seating: Stacking Allsteel, for Seek
Software Technologies Polycor Inc., for Next-Generation Spec Tool
Surfacing Materials Stone Source, for Silver Gray Phylite
Tables: Occasional Bernhardt Design, for CurioTables
Tables: Training Nucraft, for Fleet
Technology Support Nucraft, for Mobile Monitor Stand
Textiles: Upholstery Knoll Luxe, for Rodarte for Knoll Luxe
Wall Treatments MDC Wallcoverings, for Dimension Walls Eco
Walls: Movable Haworth, for Enclose Frameless Glass
Window Treatments MechoShade Systems, for UrbanShade
Workplace Technologies Steelcase, for Room Wizard
Worksurfaces: Height Adjustable SurfaceWorks, for Wing-It
Among the Silver Awards are the following:
Carpet: Modular Shaw Contract Group, for 18×36 carpet Casegoods
- Tuohy Furniture, for Prato Collection
Coalesse, for SW1, Occasional Tables
ITOKI Design, for CH Bench
- Knoll, for Antenna Workspaces
- MechoShade System, for Sun Dialer, Window Treatment
- Milliken Constantine, for Notan Collection, Carpet: Modular
- Okamora, for Leopard Mid-Back, Conference Seating
- Steelcase, for node, Education Solutions
Highmark, for In Touch seating
Jofco, for DR casegoods
KI, for Solstice II Recliner, healthcare seating
For more information, see the NeoCon Web site.
